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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
agricultural and biological sciences
Ecological niche partitioning between Anopheles gambiae molecular forms in Cameroon: The ecological side of speciation
BMC Ecology, Volume 9, Article 17, Year 2009
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Description
Background. Speciation among members of the Anopheles gambiae complex is thought to be promoted by disruptive selection and ecological divergence acting on sets of adaptation genes protected from recombination by polymorphic paracentric chromosomal inversions. However, shared chromosomal polymorphisms between the M and S molecular forms of An. gambiae and insufficient information about their relationship with ecological divergence challenge this view. We used Geographic Information Systems, Ecological Niche Factor Analysis, and Bayesian multilocus genetic clustering to explore the nature and extent of ecological and chromosomal differentiation of M and S across all the biogeographic domains of Cameroon in Central Africa, in order to understand the role of chromosomal arrangements in ecological specialisation within and among molecular forms. Results. Species distribution modelling with presence-only data revealed differences in the ecological niche of both molecular forms and the sibling species, An. arabiensis. The fundamental environmental envelope of the two molecular forms, however, overlapped to a large extent in the rainforest, where they occurred in sympatry. The S form had the greatest niche breadth of all three taxa, whereas An. arabiensis and the M form had the smallest niche overlap. Correspondence analysis of M and S karyotypes confirmed that molecular forms shared similar combinations of chromosomal inversion arrangements in response to the eco-climatic gradient defining the main biogeographic domains occurring across Cameroon. Savanna karyotypes of M and S, however, segregated along the smaller-scale environmental gradient defined by the second ordination axis. Population structure analysis identified three chromosomal clusters, each containing a mixture of M and S specimens. In both M and S, alternative karyotypes were segregating in contrasted environments, in agreement with a strong ecological adaptive value of chromosomal inversions. Conclusion. Our data suggest that inversions on the second chromosome of An. gambiae are not causal to the evolution of reproductive isolation between the M and S forms. Rather, they are involved in ecological specialization to a similar extent in both genetic backgrounds, and most probably predated lineage splitting between molecular forms. However, because chromosome-2 inversions promote ecological divergence, resulting in spatial and/or temporal isolation between ecotypes, they might favour mutations in other ecologically significant genes to accumulate in unlinked chromosomal regions. When such mutations occur in portions of the genome where recombination is suppressed, such as the pericentromeric regions known as speciation islands in An. gambiae, they would contribute further to the development of reproductive isolation. © 2009 Simard et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Available Materials
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2698860/bin/1472-6785-9-17-S1.pdf
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2698860/bin/1472-6785-9-17-S2.pdf
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2698860/bin/1472-6785-9-17-S3.pdf
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2698860/bin/1472-6785-9-17-S4.pdf
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2698860/bin/1472-6785-9-17-S5.pdf
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2698860/bin/1472-6785-9-17-S6.pdf
Authors & Co-Authors
Simard, Frédéric R.
France, Montpellier
Ird Centre de Montpellier
Cameroon, Yaounde
Laboratoire de Recherche Sur le Paludisme Yaounde
Ayala, Diego
France, Montpellier
Ird Centre de Montpellier
Kamdem, Colince
France, Montpellier
Ird Centre de Montpellier
Cameroon, Yaounde
Laboratoire de Recherche Sur le Paludisme Yaounde
Pombi, Marco
Italy, Rome
Sapienza Università Di Roma
Etouna, Joachim E.
Cameroon, Yaounde
National Institute of Cartography
Ose, Kenji
Guyana, Cayenne
Institut de Recherche Pour le Développement (ird)
Fotsing, Jean Marie
Guyana, Cayenne
Institut de Recherche Pour le Développement (ird)
Fontenille, Didier
France, Montpellier
Ird Centre de Montpellier
Besansky, Nora J.
United States, Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
Costantini, Carlo
France, Montpellier
Ird Centre de Montpellier
Burkina Faso
Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé Direction Régionale de L'ouest
Statistics
Citations: 63
Authors: 10
Affiliations: 7
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1186/1472-6785-9-17
e-ISSN:
14726785
Research Areas
Environmental
Genetics And Genomics
Sexual And Reproductive Health
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Locations
Cameroon